Secret Trio: Small World War
by Deus Rex Machina
Summary: The secrets are out, Vlad Plasmius has won...now, we've come to war. This is the final chapter in the first Secret Trio trilogy, with a few familiar faces thrown into the mix.
1. Prologue-Amity

_Three Days Ago_

Vlad Plasmius stood in front of Amity Park city hall victoriously, he had finally won and Danny Phantom has been defeated. So why did some small part of him still feel so wrong. _You've won, that's all that matters. _The voice in his head was right, Vlad had triumphed where so many others had failed, he had not only gotten rid of his mortal enemy, but had also eliminated two of the biggest threats known to darkness.

Scanning the crowd for a reaction to what just happened; Vlad noticed that no one was screaming anymore, they were all just watching him very carefully, almost as if waiting for the heroes to come rushing in to stop him. Grabbing the microphone, he addressed his new kingdom with three simple words:

"Bow to me."

When no one obliged, Vlad decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to make an example out of the more prominent dissenters. Gathering energy in his palm, he slammed the ground as hard as possible, sending shockwaves of ecto-energy into the first couple of rows in the crowd. Watching as the people of Amity Park stumbled and fell before him, Vlad heard the whirl of oncoming helicopters in the distance; no doubt it was the soldiers that had been stationed outside of town just in case such an event took place making their move.

"Vladimir Charles Masters, under commands of the president of these United States of America, we order you to stand down!"

"Oh no," Vlad said in a mocking tone, "not the U.S Government, what ever shall I do!"

So focused on the helicopter hovering above, Vlad failed to notice that Madeline Fenton had regained her composure and had turned the RV's ecto-cannon on his back. Just as she was about to fire, the front half of one of the helicopters came crashing down in front of them, partially blocking her shot.

"Dammit!" She yelled, punching the twisted metal. "He is _not_ getting away with this!" Aiming straight through the chopper, Maddie fired directly into the gaping hole in the windshield, somehow managing to hit Vlad in the center of his back and throwing him off balance.

Turning away from the helicopters that were still hovering, Vlad re-focused his attention on the wreckage in anticipation for another attack. "What in blazes?"

"That was for Jack!" Maddie roared, climbing atop the helicopter to get a better shot at the deranged ghost. "And this," she screamed through tears of anger as she squeezed the trigger once again, "is for my son!" Still in shock over her continued defiance, Vlad was unprepared when Maddie's second shot sent him flying through the podium and city hall doors.

Taking her chance, Maddie activated the assault vehicle's p.a system, "Attention people of Amity Park, you need to get to your homes and stay there until we say otherwise, this town is now on lockdown until further notice." Directing the panicked crowd away from the soon to be battleground, she instructed Jazz to get to stage and untie Sam and Tucker and then get back to Fenton-Works. "The ghost shield will be activated as soon as possible, but you all need to get far away from here and wait… wait for us and for Danny Phantom, because he _will_ be back to stop this madman."

Maddie wasn't sure if she even believed her words as this point, but she held faith that her son was alive; and if not, then she would make sure the man who took him from them wouldn't be around much longer.

Once the majority of people had been cleared out, she barreled towards the front of city hall with the intent of bringing it down around Vlad. However, she stopped upon seeing a movement and a faint, almost ghostly, glow coming from area where Danny, Jake, and Randy had disappeared from. Ignoring Vlad and the immediate sense of danger, Maddie dropped and began brushing aside debris with the bittersweet hope of finding her son struggling under the rubble. As she moved the largest piece of debris from the body, she was met with a black and white jumpsuit branded with her son's symbol …

_"Dani" _she whispered.

Although not what she expect and even though she had only known the ghost girl for a few months, Maddie still considered her family. Gently helping her from the wreckage, she passed Dani to Jazz, who had just gotten Tucker and Sam free. So preoccupied with directing the children, she failed to see Vlad erupt from city hall's ruined doors.

Taking aim at the woman he loved, Vlad struggled momentarily with the idea of hurting Maddie. "_Only to teach her a lesson," _the voice in his head told him, "_it's for her own good._" Deciding to oblige the voice, he prepared to fire but was once again sent flying through the collapsing building.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY WIFE!"

Maddie turned to see her husband at the controls of the assault vehicle, scowling at the place where Vlad had once been. "Jack! You're okay!"

"I'm better than okay, I'm Jack Fenton! Now, come on!" Loading his family in the RV, Jack threw the vehicle into reverse and slammed down the gas petal, completely crushing the empty cars behind him. "Ha, man I am so cool."

"Jack, we need to get home and turn on the ghost shield, we can't let Vlad out of Amity Park!"

"On it, babydoll!" Jack said, gunning the engine, "By the way, where's Danny? Did he and his friends get out when everything was blowing up?"

The morose silence in the vehicle told Jack all he needed to know. Gripping the steering mechanism hard, Jack prepared to turn around and finish Vlad off with his bare hands.

However, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, a small ghostly hand. "Danny, Jake, and Randy are gone Mr. Fenton, but I don't think they're _gone-_gone_," _Dani explained, "when those holes opened, there was something on the other side, and I think they just ended up on the where ever those portals opened into, but I don't think Vlad was paying attention to that." She winced as she ran her fingers across her side, no doubt a bruised rib, "So right now, we need to make sure Vlad can't get out at least until we see Danny coming back in, alright?"

Jack loosened his grip and continued towards Fenton Works, if anyone could get through this mess, it was Danny, "Fine." Regardless, Jack worried about his son and his friends and whispered a quiet promise. "But if my son isn't back in a week, I'll kill him... Vladdie or no Vladdie… no one messes with my family like this."

Vlad pulled himself out of the wreckage of city hall just in time to see the Fenton's and friends driving away in their family assault vehicle and although part of him was relieved they decided against blasting him to pieces, another part seethed with rage. "They're ignoring _me_? I just held the planet hostage and got rid of three major players and they think nothing more of me than to leave me under crumbling bricks?! HOW DARE THEY TREAT VLAD PLASMIUS WITH SUCH…SUCH… DISRESPECT!"

Bringing down the rest of the building in ghostly rage, Vlad hovered above the debris as the voice in his head continued whispering dark plans; _They still think of you as a joke, a madman constantly being bested by children._

"Well then…" he said, landing in front of the abandoned news vehicles left vacant in the chaos, "no more."

Turning on the recording equipment inside the news-van, Vlad placed himself in front of a camera and made sure it was transmitting to every major station and live feed in the world.

"Attention, people of the world, once again, this is Vlad Plasmius. I've tried to be diplomatic, I've tried to be democratic, but it seems that what it will take to get my point across…is dictatorship. So here's what's going to happen, starting with Amity Park, I will conquer a different city every thirty-six hours. If you have hopes to stop me, abandon them now. I have defeated the world's savior, I have eliminated legends, and I have no intention of being defeated again by the likes of you. Consider this a preemptive punishment for having the gall to hide behind these weak willed fools you call heroes. Because while they may look like saviors to you, these heroes can die…" He paused as a glowing eye symbol appeared on his forehead and his eyes became illuminated with golden light, magic overlapping with ghost energy.

"Just as easily as children."


	2. Gravity

Jake and Randy rushed to the Mystery Shack, led by the Pines twins and supporting Danny between the two of them. While Randy's "art of healing" had slowed Danny's bleeding, the wound still wasn't completely healing, causing Danny to continue bleeding even as they rushed for help.

"Come on Cunningham," Jake said, exhausted from the carrying his wounded friend, "what's up with the healing…WHY ISN'T HE HEALING?!"

"I'm trying but it's not working!" Randy said, frantically flipping through the Ninja-Nomicons pages, "I don't know why but I can't heal him all the way!"

"You guys come on, the shacks' just up ahead, we can get the first aid kit and try to close it up"

"Dipper's right, yelling won't help the cute boy!"

"Mabel!"

"What? I call 'em like I see 'em."

Reaching the doors of the shack, Dipper and Mabel led the trio up the stairs into their room, slamming the door behind them. Reaching for the first aid kid, Jake slashed open Danny's shirt, revealing the gaping wound going across his midriff.

Opening the med-kit, Dipper grabbed the bottle of peroxide and poured most of it into the scrapes while Randy used the clean portion of his t-shirt to apply pressure and Mabel went along sewing up the wound.

"Ew, gross gross gross gross gross gross."

After a while, the bleeding had stopped and Randy was able to use the art of healing to put a little color back into Danny. The others, thinking that Danny should be resting after all of that, went downstairs to wait for him to wake up.

"Wow, okay. So that was…something."

"You're telling us," Jake said, his hands shaking from the experience, "thanks for your help by the way, you little dudes are kind of awesome."

"Yeah," Mabel said, reaching down to pet a pig that had waddled into the kitchen, "we kind of are."

"But I'm still not exactly sure what you guys are," Dipper said, pulling out his journal and flipping through the pages looking for different ways to explain what was happening, " I mean, that guy Danny upstairs has green blood…_green_. And then you," he said, pointing at Jake, "you're apparently some kind of mutant dinosaur-thing. Heck, this guy talks to his book and walks around in a body suit. I mean, I've seen some weird things here in Gravity Falls, but you guys…you guys are just _bizarre._"

Jake and Randy exchanged skeptical looks before coming to a silent agreement on what to say. "You two must not watch a lot of TV, do you?"

"Nah, normally we're up to our ears in the weird stuff we find around town, why, you guys famous or something?"

"So you're telling me you've never heard of Danny Phantom or phantom planet?"

"Duh, we're not…" Dipped slapped himself on the forehead at his own ignorance "Idiots! Mabel, green blood… like the ghosts we saw last week? That guy upstairs is Danny Phantom! _The_ Danny Phantom!"

Her face lighting up like Christmas, Mabel Pines screamed and rushed upstairs. "I saved me a celebrity; I can't wait to blog about this!"

"Since when do you have a blog?"

"Since shut up, that's when."

Following his sister up the stairs, Dipper tackled her before she could get to her computer.

"Dipper, get off of me, what's your deal?"

"Mabel, Danny Phantom's an outlaw remember? If you tell anyone that he's here he'll be arrested on sight?"

"Oh right, well…" Mabel pointed to Jake and Randy who were standing outside the door, "what about those two."

"Duh, that's Jake Long and Randy Cunningham, they were on the news a few days ago during that Vlad guy's speech with Danny."

Randy finally spoke up from outside the room. "A few days? But, we were just there a few hours ago!"

"Oh yeah, I remember now, they were calling you a ninja and they were calling him a dragon, but then you guys just kind of vanished."

The twins looked at each other with a look of concern. "It's bad out there for you guys… Amity Park, New York City, Norrisville all under lock for the last three days. Vlad's not letting anybody in or out, and the military can't seem to do anything about."

"So," a weak voice said from behind, "what you're saying is that Plasmius is making his move…"

Randy, Jake and the twins looked back to see Danny Fenton sitting up and running his fingers across the gauze covering his stomach. "…am I right?"

"Dude, you're alive… well, y'know, sort of!"

"Yeah," Danny said, wincing at the pain his movements caused as he walked to the window, "and now we get to focus on what's important…"

Silence fell in the small attic room as each person contemplated their next move.

"Saving our families and friends." Jake whispered, his eyes turning into reptilian slits.

Randy pulled the ninja mask out of his back pocket and massaged the fabric between his fingers, "Taking back our cities."

Sensing the others' personal vendettas, Dipper was focused on the greater task at hand, "Stopping Plasmius from gaining full global control."

Clenching his fists tight as his eyes began glowing ghostly green, Danny nodded to the window, his reflection grim and serious. "_All of the above._"


	3. Warriors

"Okay," Dipper said, pacing back in forth while the Jake and the others sat at the table eating, "so how are you guys gonna do this? I mean, do you just go in with your freaky weirdo powers and knock this guy out or-"

"Hey," Danny protested, snapping into a sandwich, "we are _not_ 'freaky weirdos'!"

"Right," Mabel said, rolling her eyes at the trio, "_He_ turns into a giant lizard, _he_ runs around in a skin tight bodysuit doing flips and swinging sword…" she stopped and looked Danny up and down "and aren't you're technically dead half of the time?"

Danny turned to her and started to argue, but was stopped by the realization that she was right. "Okay, yeah we're weirdos… but we're weirdos with a plan."

"You have a plan?" Randy asked, genuinely surprised that for once they weren't just blindly charging into action.

Danny nodded. "And here it is…we get help."

"I…I honestly don't know what I expected."

Jake hit his forehead in exhaustion at Danny's obvious statement. "Okay, but even if we _do_ get help, which by the way, is a really big if now that everyone thinks we're dead, Vlad's pumped up on some serious magic now. I mean, the guy literally threw us through time!"

"I know, I know, but hear me out here."

All eyes were on Danny as he began outlining what needed to be done. "Okay, so we know that Vlad's got our cities under thumb, but who all is fighting back? You guys seen anything?"

"The last thing we saw was some video from New York, but…" Mabel paused and began rubbing her arm, a sign Dipper knew meant she was uncomfortable with saying what happened.

"It uh…it didn't end well for the guy fighting back."

Jake got quiet as he thought about Vlad trying to take on all of New York. "Wait…who exactly was fighting in when Vlad attacked New York?"

The seriousness in his tone caused Dipper to pause before answering. "Umm…some old blue dragon guy" he said, trying to recall the bit of news he'd seen "y'know, like you but more noodle-y."

"What do you mean when you say 'it didn't end well'?"

Sensing her brother didn't want to say anymore, Mabel pulled Wendy's computer from the front of the shop and opened it to the video player. As she typed out "New York Ghost Fight" in the search bar Dipper stopped her from hitting the enter key, their hesitation synchronizing. "Jake…I don't know if…"

"Show me," Jake said, his eyes turning reptilian.

Tentatively pressing the button, Mabel pulled up the video of Vlad during his assault on New York. For the first half of the video, things were relatively normal, Vlad made some long winded speech while the military evacuated the city and tried to take him down (relatively normal). But then, just as Jake was about to relax, a blue blur shot through the sky at Plasmius, knocking him into the New York sewers.

"Gramps…"

"Ha" Danny yelled, obviously delighted in Vlad's misery, "suck it, Plasmius!"

Randy took the opportunity to high five Danny, something Jake and the twins paid no attention to as the screen erupted in a fight. Claws and flames danced on the screen, clashing with ghostly plasma in the New York sky, and for each hit Vlad would land, Jake's grandfather landed ten more.

"He's…he's winning?" Jake asked incredulously. "He's winning! Kick his butt, G!" Instantly calmer, he began celebrating with Randy and Danny while the Pines twins continued watching the action on the computer.

_'Maybe Mabel and Dipper just meant Gramps had got banged up a bit,'_ Jake thought as he recalled how strong Vlad was from the times they'd fought him in Amity, '_I mean, he's handled worse than Vlad before, right?'_

The sound of explosions brought the boys attention back to the screen. Vlad stood alone in a mass of crumpled buildings and cars, covered in cuts and burns. However, instead of the green ectoplasm of ghosts or the red blood of the living, he bled swirls of gold and white which gave him the fitting appearance of a beaten and desperate god.

"What happened?" Jake said, grabbing the computer screen, "where's my grandpa? WHERE IS HE?!"

The others all became quiet, the joy of Lao Shi's momentary advantage over Plasmius gone. Intently watching the screen, they saw a crumpled blue dragon hanging partially through an overturned car. As if that weren't enough, Plasmius then proceeded to swagger over and pull the beaten old man from the vehicle, laughing as the people on the street discussed what was happening in panicked whispers.

"Well old man I'll give you this," Plasmius taunted as he cupped his face, "you put up a much better fight than that _idiot_ grandson of yours."

Jake's grandfather responded, but it was too low for the camera to hear. Whatever he said though, Vlad obviously didn't like it, seeing as he drew back his hand in order to strike. However, Lao Shi moved too quickly and before Vlad could swing, he had opened his mouth and released a stream of fire into his face, blinding the psychopath. Vlad roared with anger, gripping the side of his face while at the same time slamming the old man into the rough New York pavement.

The video ended as Vlad grabbed the back of Lao Shi's head, revealing his bruised and bloody face to the people of New York like some kind of gladiatorial spectacle before his head was consumed in a violent gold light that left his body motionless.

Without a second thought, Jake took off running through the doors of the mystery shack and then transformed and took flight, his wings beating powerfully through the Oregon air.

_No no no no…_

With a silent understanding, Danny morphed and flew through the ceiling to catch up with Jake while Randy stayed with the twins inside.

"Jake!" Danny yelled, ignoring the pain in his abdomen from such sudden action, "Jake, stop!" Slamming into the massive dragon, Danny held Jake in a hard embrace as he thrashed and flailed to get free.

"Let me go Danny!" Jake roared and began breathing fire in a careless arch. "Let. Me. Go!"

Slashing the air with his claws, Jake raked across Danny's chest and freed himself. Turning on his friend, Jake inhaled and prepared to unleash a massive volume of fire until he noticed the green, shallow cuts that had appeared on his jumpsuit.

Now infuriated even more, Jake turned skyward and began screaming as waves of fire erupted from his mouth, his wings beating furiously as he turning in the flames. After a while, and seemingly exhausted from that sheer volume of fire produced, Jake seemed to just give up and transformed back in mid-air, falling like a meteor with no intent to stop.

Luckily, Danny was still right there, and when his friend decided to fall, he caught him, landing amidst the trees once again, this time with Jake as the one hurting.

"He burns for this, Danny." Jake said through the tears as burning leaves from the treetops began falling around them. "He doesn't get to walk away from this with just a few bruises a bumps from you, Vlad Plasmius is going down for this, and we make sure he stays down."

Reaching out to hug his friend, Danny said nothing as the last of the charred leaves floated to the ground, he only nodded grimly against Jake's anger filled tears.


	4. Homebound

**_Norrisville (12 hours until war)_**

Randy didn't know why he volunteered to go first when Dipper offered them the supposed "teleporting berries," but he suspected it probably had to do with giving Jake and Danny some time to recover. Of course, he'd expected Norrisville to at least be a little bit shaken up from his disappearance, but to his surprise, not much had really changed. Sure he had on this ridiculous fake beard and this hipster hoodie, but fashion crimes were a small price to pay if it meant no one recognized the Norrisville Ninja. And even though the disguise wasn't his style, Mabel was right when said it'd help him blend in most effectively.

"C'mon Randy," he said to himself as he almost tripped over a loose stone, "focus man. Get in, warn the city folk, then get out. No big deal, right?" However, just as he'd finally convinced himself to relax, he heard a vicious roar rip through the streets of the city.

"Oh come on!"

Charging through the streets, the massive body of an obviously stanked person was crushing everything in its path. Cars crumpled under its massive, monstrous claws, and people were thrown aside as easily as flies of in a whirlpool. "Looks like it's…" Randy paused as he reached for the mask, _right, no ninja o'clock, just gotta get home and…_

So busy debating himself, Randy was oblivious to the giant hand about to make contact with his skull.

"Ninja shove!"

"Ninja wha?" Thrown off by the familiar voice, Randy was unprepared for the flying tackle that threw him out of the monster's range. Hitting the ground, he instinctively reached for his mask once again before remembering that technically the Ninja was supposed to be dead.

"This succcckkkks."

"Sorry about that," the new "ninja" said as they jumped off of him, "I'm still a little new at this."

"No not you…but… do I know you?" Looking over the ninja, Randy noticed violet eyes peeking out from the mask and a strand of purple hair that had avoided being locked down. "Theresa?"

"Uh. no random citizen! It is I, the Ninja! Now, stand back!"

Pulling out a sword, the temp-ninja lunged at the monster. Parrying the attack, the creature closed its hands around a small piece of metal hanging around its neck, protecting it with its gargantuan hands.

_Bingo._

"Ther- I mean ninja," Randy shouted as he pointed to the dangling silver locket he'd seen earlier, "aim for the neck!"

"Got it, strangely insightful hobo!"

"I'm not a hobo!"

"Sure dude, whatever you say…" Watching carefully, she waited for the creature to drop its defense so that she could get a clear shot at the necklace. "Now!"

The ninja's sword sailed through the air, spinning like the blades of a ceiling fan on high. As the tip of the blade connected with the silver cover of the locket, a cloud of green smoke exited the monster's mouth as it shrank down to form of an older woman.

"Oh-ho that was sooo bruce, Theresa!"

Luckily, she was the only one still around to hear her name, but Randy still released it was an incredibly shoobtastic thing to say given the circumstances. However, instead of fleeing or denying it like he would have done, she turned and pointed her (incredibly sharp) sword directly at his chest.

"Ohhh I done goofed."

"How do you know who I am," she said, raising the tip of her blade so that it rested on his throat, "did Plasmius send you to scout for him?"

Panicking, he opted for the truth. "No, no, it's me, Randy! Randy Cunningham"

"Randy…" She lowered her blade, but just as Randy was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he felt his entire world flip upside-down. _Right, right… still think I'm dead, don't know why I keep forgetting that._

_"_Nice try, creep," she said, twisting on his arm, "but Randy…Randy…" Unable to finish her thoughts through the tears, she instead proceeded to twist his arm even further.

"No! Ow! No! It's really me! Vlad's weird portal things didn't kill me, or Danny, or Jake, they just sent us into the future!" The silence between them became superheated with Theresa's anger. "...Oh that sounded so much dumber out loud."

Rolling Randy over so that he faced the sky, Theresa drove her sword through the side of his shirt. "Wrong answer. Try again."

"Okay look, I know it sounds crazy, but-but how would I know about your sixth grade birthday party and Dani and Hayley and and…" Taking in a deep breath, Randy caught her scent and momentarily forgot the situation he was in, "mmm, rainbows…"

"What?"

"I mean…"

Pulling the sword out of his shirt, Theresa helped Randy up and pulled the fake beard off of him. "Randy?"

"…Hi?"

Randy wasn't sure what he expected to happen then, but it sure as heck wasn't a slap across the face. "Oww," he said, cradling his face in his hand, "what the juice was that for!"

"Three days. Three days of chaos all over the city, and not a word from you. Not to me, not to Howard, not even…"

"R-randy?"

The voice was weak, but Randy would know it anywhere. He turned, looking where not even five minutes ago a monster stood. Looking her over, Randy noticed her long dark hair was messy and unkempt, her face sunken and haunted in a manner that resembled a Hollywood zombie. And the worst of it all, her eyes. Puffy and red as if she hadn't stopped crying since the last time Randy had seen her…five days ago.

"M-Mom?" He asked, almost afraid his eyes were playing tricks on him. "Is it really you?"

As he and Theresa rushed over to where his mother had appeared, Randy forsook his disguise and crouched down to hug her in the street. Looking her over, he noticed that the silver locket Theresa had cut off earlier was the very same one he'd given her last year with an old picture of the two inside.

"Mom! Are you okay, what happened to you?"

"Is it really you?" His mother asked as she ran her hand down his face, "I-I thought I'd lost you…I couldn't handle it. I thought you felt ignored with me working all the time but then I turn on the news and there you were. And then you were gone, and there was blood and all I could think was 'no, not you too…not my baby.'"

"I'm here now, I've got you."

"Please… please don't leave me again, the green smoke might come back." She shuttered. "I can't turn into that thing again."

Randy was crushed with how much his mother had to have been hurting in order for her misery to reach the Sorcerer. "How long were you like that?"

"I… don't know. I saw you on tv in Amity Park and then I was just…gone. The last thing I remember is green smoke coming up from the vents and a horrible, evil laugh all around me."

Hugging his mother again, Randy helped her up and pulled her away from the streets. Grinding his teeth, he made a mental note to himself; _After Vlad goes down,_ _the Sorcerer's__** so**__ getting it next._

"Come on," he said as clouds began to gather in the sky, signaling an oncoming storm, "I have a feeling this is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better."


	5. Shadows

"Hello?"

"Jake, it's Randy, the berries worked and we're set to go on with the plan." A monster roared in the background of the call. "Listen, can't talk now, gotta get to work. Good luck and catch you guys in a few hours."

Hanging up the phone, Jake pulled one of the small berries that Dipper had given them a few minutes earlier out of his pocket and rolled it in his palm. _These can take you anywhere you've been before or anywhere you need to go…_

"Anywhere…"

Even though their phones had been destroyed in the crash, Jake still refused to settle on calling home with the land-line over actually going there himself. Fighting the urge to just take off for New York, he waited for Danny and the twins to get back from the forest with more berries.

_We need at least three for everybody we're bringing in. Randy's volunteered to go on recon so I'm giving him all the ones we have now. Mabel and I will go to the jumper tree to get some more._

_I'm coming too; I wouldn't feel right about you guys going in that forest alone._

_Whatever floats your boat, you coming Jake?_

He remembered saying no, that he'd hold down the fort in case Vlad found them or Randy got into trouble. Danny could probably tell that he was lying, but he was too good of a friend to bother him about it anymore, so he took the twins and left Jake alone in the cabin to think.

As he paced around the cabin, Jake felt a terrible pain begin to take form in his head. To make matters worse, the hole he had made in his palm was beginning to burn now, something he had never experience with a wound. Thinking it was just the beginning of an infection, Jake walked into the bathroom in search of something to dress the wound.

"What the-?"

Looking at the wound for the first time, Jake noticed a pattern of black swirling lines that seemed to originate from the entry point his claw had made. As he tried to wash it off, he noticed it seemed to react negatively to his own contact, instead spreading further up his arm instead of disappearing.

"Wha-what's happening?"

As if to answer his question, the black lines began throbbing against his skin, sending searing pain all the way up his arm before returning to just being irritating to look at. Staring at his arm in panic now, Jake fell to the ground and found himself unable to make a sound. As if sensing his new-found vulnerability, the shadows on the wall seemed to start condensing themselves at his feet, piling into one solid mass of darkness that looked just like…

"Grandpa?"

Reacting to the sound of Jake's voice, the darkness began angrily swirling into a new form, a massive black dragon that surrounded him until they were face to face. Feeling the heat being sucked from the room, Jake tried to summon his flames to disperse the shadows, but to no avail.

"Who are you?" He said, his breath condensing in front of him. "What do you want with me?" He paused as the shadow dragon's whiskers connected with his forehead. Instantly, his mind was flooded with memories of his grandfather, intense recollections of the time they spent together.

Feeling his fear evaporate, Jake placed his scarred hand on the dragon's head "Typical," he said as tears began falling down his face, "always time for one more lesson, huh G?"

* * *

Dipper, Mabel and Danny knew something was wrong as soon as they entered the shack. Even though Stan had court and Soos and Wendy had the day off, the shack hadn't felt this empty all day, but that feeling changed as soon as they returned from gathering berries.

"Something's wrong in here," Danny said, handing Mabel the bucket of berries they had collected. He knew this feeling well, it was the feeling of cold associated with someone who was no longer living. No ghost sense though, meaning there was no ghost nearby.

_So what's happening in here?_

"DANNY! HELP!"

"What?" Snapping out of his own head, Danny followed the sound of Dipper's voice and found him and Mabel standing in front of the bathroom holding an unconscious Jake, his jacket rank with thick, black smoke.

"What happened to him?!"

"I don't know, you were talking to yourself and I had to pee and I opened the door and he fell out and… and…"

"Dipper, calm down!"

"I AM NOT EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THIS!

Mabel slapped her brother out of his hysterics.

"Thanks…" he said, rubbing his cheek, "but Jake's still…"

"Still what? And why are you guys holding me?"

"Ahh!"

Startled, the twins dropped Jake onto the floor and retreated behind Danny.

"Ow…I didn't mean drop me."

"Right, sorry." As the twins helped Jake back up, Danny noticed the black markings going up his arm under his jacket.

"What happened in there, man? And why do you smell like dead people?"

Jake paused and took a deep breath. Slowly, he began removing his jacket to reveal the black dragon markings that had wrapped themselves around his right forearm, tracing them down to the black spot in the center of his hand.

"Cool!" Mabel said, looking at the figures around Jake's arm. "You got a tattoo?" As she reached out to touch it, the dragon markings shifted and coiled themselves back around Jake's palm, leaving his arm bare again. "Scratch that, not cool, not cool man! Evil tattoo!"

"Wait! It's not evil!" Jake sighed heavily as he prepared to tell his tale. "Okay, listen, this is going to sound crazy, but my grandfather's shadow just told me how to beat Vlad…and it's not gonna be easy so I need to get moving, do you guys have the berries?"

Danny pulled the bucket of teleporting berries away as Jake reached in for a handful. "Wait, wait, wait…so your grandpa, the incredibly wise old man who normally advised us against doing stupid things, just showed up and told you to bum rush Plasmius as soon as possible?"

"No, you intangible prick," Jake said, tensing at Danny's offhand comments, "he said that we need to work together to shut Vlad down fast. And it's going to take _a_ _lot_ of us to do it so I need to start calling in favors. Is that okay with you, oh Phantom overlord, or need I go on?"

"Your lord is pleased for now," Danny said, tossing Jake a zip-lock bag full of the jumpers. He was worried about how exhausted Jake looked, as if he had been awake for a few days before chugging a massive cup of coffee, but at the same time he was relieved that he seemed more relaxed and level headed about his grandpa. "Just be safe out there dude."

"No promises," Jake said, his hand tracing the black markings on his palm, "but you should get a move on too. Dex and Jimmy are both in Washington right now, so it's gonna take some creativity to get them to come with you."

"How…"

"Dude, I _just_ talked to the dragon-shadow of my dead grandpa, finding a couple of our geeky friends is easy money compared to that."

"This is weird even for us," Mabel whispered to her brother.

"I know right, it's like dark fanfiction come to life."

As Jake prepared to bite into the berry, he paused in remembrance of something he'd learned earlier and looked at the twins. Holding off on eating the magical fruit, Jake slipped it inside his cheek as he wrote something down on a piece of paper and then handed it off to Dipper before biting down and vanishing into thin air.

"What was that about?" Danny said, looking at the sheet over Dipper's head.

"Bad news…_very_ bad news"

Dropping the paper, Dipper took out the third journal and ran upstairs with Mabel not far behind him.

"What's so bad about this?"Danny asked, picking up the note with caution.

On the paper, there was only one word scrawled across the page in thick, black letters:

**_Cipher_**


	6. Illuminati

Danny wasn't sure how exactly he was going to get Dexter and Jimmy to come with him, but he never thought kidnapping would be his first option. Phasing into the Senate building in Washington, he was astounded by the number of people converged there discussing Vlad's motives and plans for attack.

"I still say we nuke 'em."

"How do you propose we nuke a ghost, Senator?"

"We won't know until we try!"

_Oh brother_, Danny thought to himself, hovering above the bickering politicians, **_these_**_ are the guys deciding how to run the country._

Just as he was about to begin searching the other levels of the building, he saw two boys enter the atrium. The first had bright, carrot-orange hair and was wearing a thigh length white lab-coat, while the other wore a simple brown jacket over a red shirt bearing a yellow atomic symbol and had hair that looked as if chocolate ice-cream had come to life.

"This is ridiculous, Dexter," the dark-haired boy said to the other as they took their seats in the back of the room. "Nothing anyone has come up has done any good against Plasmius, so now we have to sit through hours of hearing even worse ideas…I call folly on that."

"Relax, James, we're just here as volunteer advisers for during times of war, it's not like they're actively forcing us into participating in this inane cycle of ignorance they are perpetrating."

As they were talking, neither of them seemed to notice the presence that had settled behind them shortly after they arrived. "Gotcha!" Danny said to himself as he tried to grab the two teen scientists. Instantly, he felt a surge of electricity coursing through his body, causing him to momentarily short out his invisibility in surprise. "Ow…" he said, rubbing his head in an attempt to shake off the shock, "what the heckie was that?"

"That," the orange-haired boy said as he and the other boy pulled concealed weapons on Danny, "is an anti-possession ring, courtesy of yours truly, Dexter, boy genius."

"Wait, Dex, don't shoot," Danny whispered, covering his face with his arm, "it's me, Danny Fenton!"

"You dare speak of my deceased friend so nonchalantly? I will p**_ee_**l you apart for such blasphemy."

Danny rolled his eyes and looked at Jimmy, who was arguably the more open of the two when it came to empathy. "Look, we don't really have time for this right now but whatever you've heard about me being dead is wrong and I need you two to come with me to stop Vlad, any questions?"

Lowering his blaster, Jimmy looked the ghost boy over. "Danny, is it really you?"

"Do not be f**_oo_**led by this pale imitation, James," Dexter said, a maniacal scowl plastered on his face as the tip of his blaster hovered dangerously close to Danny's face, "this is obviously one of Plasmius' clones trying to infiltrate us for information."

"Hey! Let's keep hurtful sayings to a minimum, carrot top! After all, we wouldn't want me to tell Jazz about your little clone experiment now would we?"

Dexter's face flushed red as he lowered his blaster away from his friend's face. "Okay, okay, no need to do anything rash here."

"Exactly, now, hold still, this is going to tingle."

Grabbing onto his friends, Danny bit into one of the jumper berries as he pictured his parent's lab in Amity Park. Almost immediately, the three of them faded from the Senate building and were thrown through space into the Fenton's living room.

_Of course that stupid berry dropped me in the wrong part of the house. I've been betrayed by fruit yet again._

Disoriented from the bitter taste of the berries, Danny didn't notice that he and his friends had dropped right into the center of a meeting between his family and friends.

"Danny? _Danny!_"

"I told you guys that he was too stubborn to die."

Jazz was the first to get over the surprise of having him appear out of thin air and rushed to hug her brother. She was followed by their parents, then Sam, Tucker and Dani.

"Sibling _and_ parental affection," Danny mocked, crushed under the bodies of his family and friends, "it burns, it burns!"

"Hey," his mother said as she pinched his cheeks and kissed his forehead, "we've been worried sick about for the past three days, now you be quiet and let us love you!"

After about five minutes of hugging and murmured conversation within the huddle, Dexter cut in with a cough. "Um, not to preemptively dissolve your family moment, but I believe we were abducted from the senate with the intention of stopping the madman who is currently razing cities at an alarming rate?"

Everyone looked dryly at Dexter, who was currently turning a darker shade of red than his hair, so Jimmy stepped in to ease the transition from emotion to science. "What Dexter here is _trying_ to say is, Plasmius has two cities under his heel now, so we need to work fast before he amasses any more power."

"They're right you guys," Danny said, stepping away from his family and slipping his fingers from in between Sam's, "Vlad's apparently working with something called 'Cipher' and it's giving him a major power boost so we need to shut that down…quick." Danny paused; looking around the living room to make sure everyone was paying attention.

"So what's the plan, Danny?"

"Okay, mom, dad, Dex, Jim, and Jazz are on geek squad duty. Find some way to pull the plug on Vlad's power or find some way to juice ours up, either way, get us back on an equal playing field. Does that sound do-able?"

"Of course it is," Dexter said as he wiped his glasses off, "and I look forward to working with you again, Jasmine."

Rolling her eyes, Jazz walked across the room to where her brother was standing and sat down beside Sam and Tucker. "Oh believe me, the pleasure is all mine."

"Right… anyway… Tucker, I need you, Sam and Dani geared up and ready for a fight. If Plasmius can take down cities on a whim then I'm guessing he's gonna have an army on reserve for anyone who's insane enough to challenge him, so you're with me."

Tucker looked at Sam and whispered around Jazz. "Are _we_ that insane?"

"I'd say no, but then I remember you're dating your best friend's clone and honestly, the fact that this all makes any sense to us says that our sanity ship has long sailed."

"Yeah… just like the old days."


	7. Prism

Randy had finally gotten his mother to lie down, but he was still paranoid about just her waking up in a few hours and discovering he was gone. "She can't go through that again," he said to Theresa, "I can't let her. The ninja is supposed to protect the town but I can't even protect my own mom."

"Randy…it's not your fault. You couldn't have known this was gonna happen."

Pacing the room, Randy messed up his hair in frustrations. "Danny and Jake both have back-ups, but the only one here that can fill in for me is apparently you, which by the way, is still really confusing to me. Where did you even get that mask and sword? How come the nomicon didn't wipe your mind after the first time, why do you look so cute in your…"

_Smooth, Cunningham, real smooth._

"Well, I made the mask, the sword was made for me by Mr. Smith, I don't know and, uh, I guess you think I'm cute because you maybe sort of kind of like me?"

Randy fought the urge to throw down a smoke bomb and cleared his throat. "Well you know, it's just that I, uh…so how about that apocalypse I've got to help stop, that'll be fun right?"

Theresa rolled her eyes and walked out, leaving Randy alone with his sleeping mother. "Really glad you weren't awake to see me wonk that up," he said, flopping down in the chair beside her bed. Looking over at her nightstand, he picked up the picture of his mom and dad that he'd taken the day before he'd been deployed. "And I wish you'd come home so that she wouldn't be alone again."

Just as Randy was about to break down, he heard the house phone ring. Walking out of his parent's room to answer, he found Theresa holding the phone and in the middle of a conversation. "-ah, here he is," she said, tossing him the phone, "it's Danny, he wants to know if you've seen anything weird lately."

Putting the phone on speaker, Randy sat it on the coffee table between him and Theresa. "Hey dude, everything's been pretty quiet on my end so far and most of the people have evacuated the town, so now what?"

"If Norrisville is clear, I need you to do me a favor and head back to Gravity Falls and see what's so bad about this 'Cipher' thing that freaked Dipper out. After that, check the Grid to see who's local and then rendezvous with us at Fenton Works."

"Anything else, oh fearless leader?"

"Oh boy, more sarcasm…just be careful out there, dude."

Hanging up the phone, Randy reached into his pocket and pulled out his berry stash, ready to get this over as soon as possible. As he prepared to bite it, he remembered his mother's pleas from only a few hours ago.

_Please… please don't leave me again._

"I'm sorry."

"So you're just gonna leave? Just like that, Mr. World-Famous Ninja's gonna take off again like a shoob?"

"Hey, whoa, let's twirl back the 'tude, okay Theresa? I'm already freaking out enough as it is."

"Then stop just following orders," she snapped at him, "so far I've seen you taking orders from Danny, from Jake, heck you're even being clingier to the nomicon than usual! Listen to them because they're your friends but don't just jump every time they tell you to. Cheezus Cunningham, have you even _talked_ to Howard since you've been back in town? You know, Howard, your best friend… _without_ superpowers? I mean, what the juice, Randy?"

"I-you what," he said, spitting the mystical fruit across the room, "you're right. I'm Randy Cunningham, I am the ninja, and I've got a few important things to take care of. First, I'm gonna go do this!" Randy pulled out the Ninja-nomicon, and was quickly immobilized upon opening the book. After a few minutes of nothing, he snapped back to reality and slammed the book shut. Running to his parent's room with Theresa in tow, Randy stood over his sleeping mother and spread his hands over her as if he were a priest. "Ninja deep-sleep technique!"

On command, a faint purple light washed over his mother, slowing her breathing to a peaceful sleeping rate. "There, she's guaranteed to stay asleep for 24 hours, she'll sleep through the whole thing. Next up, Howard."

Reaching for the phone, Randy speed dialed Howard's number from memory. "Howard, yeah…no…wait. Howard, it's me, Randy I'm not totally dead an-…yes…yeah…uncalled for but I'll let that slip…yeah…no, it's been Theresa…yeah…yeap okay, listen, I'll call you back after the world's not under attack by a crazy man, then we can hang, cool? Yeah…yeah okay, I love you too buddy… and yes, I am aware that I'm still a shoob. Gotta go."

Placing the phone on the receiver, Randy pulled his mask out and slipped it halfway over his face. "Two down, but there's one last thing to do…" Grabbing Theresa's wrist, he pulled her close to him, their breathing slowed by the close proximity to each other.

"Uh…what is this?"

"A mistake probably."

"Wha-"

Leaning in, he silenced her with a kiss befitting a man who knew his life was coming to an end, which, considering the circumstances probably wasn't totally inaccurate. Breaking away, they found themselves staring intently at the each other, neither one really sure of what to say to the other.

"So, uh…that just happened."

"Uh, yeah, I guess it did." Randy said, his brain still trying to catch up on everything that just happened. "Now… we need to go."

"To, uh, save the world and all that, right?"

"Yeah," Randy said, pulling the mask all the way down and activating the suit, "something like that. Next stop, Gravity Falls."


	8. Vigilant

Going home to New York was the hardest thing Jake had ever done, and it was made even more difficult when he saw what was happening on his own street. All throughout the neighborhood, houses had been abandoned and vandalized, tagged with sayings like 'No hope for Phans', 'Don't trust Ninjas,' and his personal favorite, 'Long name, short lives.' "Aww man," he said as he hopped the neighbor's fence so he wouldn't be seen, "Vlad gets ultimate power and my neighborhood becomes the new suicide slums, fan-trucking-tastic."

Expecting the worst, Jake took the back alley to his house to avoid seeing the defacement of his home. Jumping to the ladder, Jake climbed into his bedroom window in search of a disguise. Finally pulling out his old Halloween cloak, he slowly inched into the hallway and made his way downstairs to check on his family. Peeking into the living room, Jake was disappointed to see that his family was gone, and from the look of the place they hadn't been there in a while.

"They…they're gone."

After a few minutes of looking around for clues as to where they went, Jake finally let his anger win over and began smashing everything in sight. Reveling in the wanton destruction he'd caused, Jake finally settled down enough to put together a rational thought. "Grandpa's shop, duh."

Reducing the risk of exposure, Jake pulled the hood of the cloak over his face and left to go find his family. However, as he reached the central part of town, he was surrounded by a group of thieves wearing Vlad Plasmius masks. Resisting the urge to burn them all where they stood, Jake bit back his fire as the largest thug encroached him and thrust out his hand.

"Money,pip-squeak"

"Step off, meat-head"

Even though he appeared to be prepared for a fight, Jake had already resigned himself to just take a few hits until the gang got bored and moved on to their next victim.

_As long as they don't see my face and figure out who I am, I can stand a few hits from these goofs…_

Expecting to be struck at any moment, Jake was caught by surprise by the sudden increase in temperature around him. Looking around for the source of the heat, his heart nearly dropped when he saw a small, pink dragon descend from the rooftops breathing a stream of fire that pushed back on the assailants.

_Haley._

"Good to see you're still up to no good…Charlie"

"Oh, great," Charlie said, pulling out a switch blade and flipping it over in his fingers, "it's _you _again."

Landing in front of her brother, Haley unleashed another stream of fire, this time managing to ignite some of the closer thugs' jackets.

"You know these creeps, little lady?" Jake said, pitching his voice down and avoiding eye contact with his sister.

"Unfortunately," She said, glancing back at Jake as if she was beginning to question his presence on the scene. "_Charlie_ here and his merry band of misfits have been causing trouble all over New York for the past couple of days. And I'm not just some 'little lady.' I'm the American dragon."

_Yeah, I know a little something about that._

"Hate to cut in to this little freak-show, but I believe the gentlemen and I were in the middle of a transaction." Opening the blade, Charlie ran his finger across its spine and glared at Haley, "And by the way, baby-wing, my _name_ is **_Vladamir_**!"

"Your name," Haley said in a mocking tone, "is _unoriginal poser_."

"Oh yeah?" Charlie's thugs began oohing and snickering behind him, causing him to discard his mask and show his face to the Long siblings, growling and pouting as he stomped on the façade of Plasmius. A scar ran over his lips that only accentuated his scowl and the rage in his eyes. "How's this for unoriginal…"

Jake watched as Charlie launched the blade at his arm, intending to side-step and avoid contact any substantial injuries. Unfortunately, he misjudged the angle of the throw and the knife ended up buried in Haley's left shoulder. As he stood there horrified, Haley fell to the ground roaring in pain, reverting to her human form as she writhed on the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?" Jake bellowed.

"White cinnabar in the blade," Charlie said, smiling smugly, "courtesy of the magical black market. Still feeling brave without your little dragon friend, huh punk? "

Yanking the knife out of his sister's arm, Jake picked her up and pressed down on the wound, holding her like he used to do when she would get sick. Turning to Charlie and the rest of the people wearing Vlad masks, he lowered his eyes and exhaled black smoke. "You have just made a _very _big mistake."

Throwing out his hand, Jake focused on the dragon patterning covering his wrist and felt it begin extending over his forearm. Within seconds, the entire alley was covered in thick black shadows, each one seemingly writhing and snaking its way around one of the thugs.

"Wh-what the hell are you?"

"_I am the dragon who runs within darkness_," Jake said, his voice overlapping with something more ancient and angry, "_I am the black flame of victory that burns for the righteous_… and I…am the guy that's gonna give you three seconds to run away before this gets ugly."

"Ghosts and dragons and ninjas are one thing, but now we're dealing with magic-shadow freaks too? Yo, bump this man, I'm out!"

The thugs turned to run so fast that they began tripping over each other, each one discarding their mask and trying to get away quicker than the others. "This ain't over freak… you hear me?! This ain't over!"

Flexing the shadows like a marionette, Jake brought them together and warped them into the shape of a giant dragon that began snaking around the alley, smoke billowing from its nostrils as if it were alive. "Count on it, creep_."_

Even though he was exhausted from the effort he'd just exerted, Jake still resolved himself to carry Haley across town, hiding in the shadows and making sure he avoided any more gangs. Finally reaching their grandfather's shop, Jake carefully opened the door and laid her across one of the many ancient chairs that decorated the electronics store before blacking out in the back room.

* * *

Jake had woken up startled and on edge, unsure of how much time had passed since entering the city. Looking at his watch, he saw that, fortunately, he'd only slept for about half an hour, but at some point he'd apparently shed his cloak. "Ugh, what happened?"

Upon leaving the room, Jake found himself face to face with his mother and father, one seated on either side of the door. "Jake …baby?"

"Mom, dad," he said, trying desperately not to cry in front of his parents, "you have no idea how good it is to you guys again."

Hugging their son, Susan and Jonathan Long were the happiest they'd been in a while, embracing the moment over all the negativity of the past three days. "After everything in Amity Park and then losing dad… now Haley's out there on the streets and _this _happens." Jonathan held his wife as she finally broke down, tears forming in his eyes as well.

"We're just glad that you were there for her, sport, I just wish it was under better conditions."

"So, how is she?"

"She's resting now," Susan said, straightening up as she wiped the tears from her face, "whatever you did in the alley negated the white cinnabar's effect on her…and as soon as my head stops spinning you'll have to tell us what all that was."

Pulling up his sleeve, Jake showed his parents the dragon markings covering his arm which were no longer black and in motion, but were now immobile, irritating and crimson again his skin.

"Young man," his father snapped, "surviving a homicidal half-ghost and saving your sister does _not _give you free range to give yourself a dang-dily tattoo!"

Stunned, Jake and Susan just stared at Jonathan as if that were the most incredulous thing to happen all week.

"Chill dad, it's not a tattoo," Jake explained, "it's…well, it's basically a magical trump card. Gramps gave it to me a few hours ago, and he also said don't worry…he's with grandma now, so he's good."

Smiling through tears, Susan crouched down to hug her son. "Just what have you been up to young man?"

"It's bad out there, mom…so we've decided to make it better."

"We? Who's we?"

"Whoever they are," a small voice said, "count me in." Stepping into the hallway, Haley scowled as she rubbed the bandage over her left shoulder before hugging her brother. "So what's the plan, bro?"

Looking around at his family, Jake nodded solemnly, taking out the bag of berries he'd received before leaving Oregon. Handing Haley a berry, he instructed her to take their parents to Amity Park and to wait there for him unless otherwise instructed.

"But what about you, Jake-ster? Aren't you coming with us?"

"Yeah, you're not gonna end up doing something stupid again are you?"

Throwing on his cloak again, Jake pulled the hood over his head walked to the front of the shop, plucking another berry from his bag along the way. "Me? Nah, nothing stupider than I've already agreed to." As he hugged his family once more, Jake placed the fruit inside his mouth and grinned. "For now though, I have some business to attend to.

"Just be safe Jake, no unnecessary roughness, okay?"

"Of course," he said, still relieved to have seen his family together one last time, "I'm just going out for a miracle and some sunshine."


	9. Augmentation

Vlad Plasmius had never imagined the burden of power as a physical property, but all of that changed the moment he entered the Ghost Zone to recharge. Since his mansions in the real-world had been destroyed too many times to count, Vlad found solace in the gothic remains of a castle that had been abandoned long ago. Returning to the stronghold, he sat upon his throne just as the magical energy he absorbed finally overwhelmed him.

"All this power and yet I am _still_ forced to rest." Vlad said as he slumped down into the make-shift throne. "Oh well, I suppose it'll all be worth it once I finish my domination of this pathetic planet."

_Not so fast there, Vladdie, _the voice said, overtaking Vlad's thoughts, _you might not be out the clear just yet._

"Oh, pish-posh, my tiny, paranoid friend. With Daniel and his friends out of the way, no one will dare stand against me." Taking a sip from his wine glass, Vlad thought back to the day he'd finally gotten rid of Danny Phantom. "Besides, if anyone tries, I'll simply destroy them with the power you've given me."

Suddenly, the air in front of him began shimmering with a faint image until a golden cyclopean-pyramid solidified and floated in front of him.

_About that, _the triangle man said, adjusting his bow-tie, _it seems that we may need to update the terms of your deal_

Vald crossed his fingers and leaned forward, reconsidering if he even needed Cipher's power at this point before his interest in the offer won him over. "What exactly do you mean by 'update'?"

_Simple really, your body's becoming too weak to handle the influx of power and as a result your ghost core is becoming unstable. If you keep it up, things like __**this**__ will start to happen._

Looking down, Vlad saw that there was a puddle of pink ectoplasm forming around his feet, still warm and bubbling. "What is _this_?"

_That_, _my caped compadre_, Cipher said, chuckling telepathically, _is the result of a tiny man trying to handle big power._

"Why you poly-dimensional ingrate, do you have any idea what I'm capable of?"

Laughing once again, Bill Cipher snapped his fingers and turned the skeletal frames of Vlad's throne into a lush bouquet of blood blossoms. Instantly, Vlad was rocked with pain as his body succumbed to the extremely potent poison that the ecto-flower emitted.

Immediately, Vlad flung himself from the throne, landing on a floating piece of land that had begun drifting apart from the castle. "Ugh, name your price, and we'll see if I'm buying what you're selling."

_My price? Oh, nothing big really, I just need to make sure you're in this with me one-hundred percent. _

"I've already given you a mortal sacrifice of myself, what more could you _possibly_ want from me?"

_I want the rest of it, Vladdie boy, _Cipher said, drifting carelessly around Plasmius as he once again ascended the steps of the castle. _ I want all the humanity you have to offer._

"What do you mean…all of it?"

_I am so, __**so**__ glad you asked._

Just as Vlad finally reached his throne again, Cipher snapped his fingers once again, dragging the two of them through the Ghost Zone. After passing by endless spectral domains, they exited the ghost zone and landing in an ancient, decrepit cemetery that stretched for miles into thick fog. "Cipher," Vlad said, carefully examining the landscape, "what exactly are we doing here?"

**_We're_**_ doing nothing Vladdie-boy, this round's all up to you._

Vlad was about to question what exactly that meant, however he was caught off guard by the decaying spirits that had risen all around him. Confident in his ability to strike them down, Vlad began firing energy haphazardly into the oncoming army of the undead. However, he soon began feeling weaker and weaker after each wave of carnage he wrought. Looking back, Vlad was horrified to see several glowing, pink footprints marking the way all the way up to his current position, each one being drained by a crazed spirit that then came charging after him.

With a disgusted realization, Vlad finally understood what was happening. "They're … they're feeding off of me…absorbing my ectoplasm and growing stronger like some sort of vampires." Some part of him knew that they were right to attack him, though. He'd appeared weak, destabilizing into basic ectoplasm that even the lesser spirits of the ghost zone could make a meal out of.

Fighting through the thought, Vlad screamed in pain as one of the ghosts that had managed to slip past his defenses sank its teeth into his side, causing pink ectoplasm and deep red blood to stain the ground in tandem. Turning on the ghost that bit him, Vlad grabbed its head and hissed, baring his fangs for the first time since he'd entered the ghost zone and a single thought had crossed his mind; _Food is power._

Vlad bit down into the neck of the lesser spirit, draining it as it squirmed against his grip until finally, it dissolved completely into ectoplasm in his hands. Immediately, he felt his own ghost form stabilize alongside Bill Cipher's magic, the clarity of the meal bringing his focus back on the oncoming ghosts and the power he'd so desperately bargained for after returning from exile.

"Cipher," he called out, still ripping his way through the army of ghouls, "this is not the deal we discussed!"

_Oh-ho but it is, _Bill replied, still nowhere to be seen,_ I said I want all the humanity you can give me, and now that you've had your first taste… you're gonna give till it hurts._


	10. Miracles

Miracle City, Mexico, was not the type of place Jake would call "traditionally friendly," so it really spoke volumes about his appearance that he could get around pretty much undisturbed. Grabbing a churro from one of the vendors near the park, he sat down on the bench nearest the fountain and waited, his face obscured by a black cloak he'd taken from his home.

Finally, after a few minutes of nothing, sirens began erupting all over the city, accompanied by a cloud of smoke billowing from the center.

"I swear you could almost set your watch to the crime in this city."

Following the trail of smoke into town, Jake soon ran into a crowd huddled around the Miracle City Bank. Watching from the edge of the group, churro still in hand, he had to fight back the urge to rush in him and handle the situation himself. "C'mon Rivera," he said, pulling the hood of his cloak back slightly so that he could get a better view of the building, "you couldn't have gotten this lazy already."

As if reacting to his thoughts, a massive explosion rocked the left side of the building, throwing a cloud of dust into the eyes of the spectators. Running through the debris, Jake caught the silhouette of a large figure carrying two large sacks. As he listened closer, he heard gruff laughter accompanied by a thick Mexican accent that trailed into alleys behind the bank. "Haha, you ain't ever gonna catch me, mang!"

"Wait a min- El Oso? Seriously Tigre? This guy's still running the streets?" Deciding to go after El Oso himself, Jake pushed through the crowd and ran into the alley he had disappeared into. As he squeezed between the fire trucks that had gathered on the scene to handle the flames, he finally found what he was looking, a brown and orange blur that followed the faint sound of a tiger's roar.

"About time, dude," Jake murmered to himself, "I was about to wonder if something had happened to you."

In a flash, El Oso toppled in the alleyway with a loud thud that seemed to echo throughout the city. "Seriously El Oso, don't you ever get tired of this?"

"I would say yeah… but I don't gots much else to do, mang. What about you, you bored'a this?"

"Punching bad guys and sometimes skimming off the top before turning them in? Nah, man, life's good."

_Unbelievable, _Jake thought as he pinched his forehead, _you're still pulling these stunts, Rivera? _

Unfortunately, Jake was so focused on watching Manny and El Oso, he had completely neglected the police cars that had gathered behind them, blocking off the mouth of the alley. "Aww man," he said, drawing his hood over the face a little more, "_now_ the cops show up?" Pressing his back further against the space where he was hiding, Jake crouched behind a garbage bin to avoid being seen by the authorities.

"El Tigre! The jig is up! We know you've been working with El Oso, come out with your hands up and return what you've stolen!"

"Are you kidding me with this? I just _stopped _Oso from running off with the loot and now I'm being arrested for it? No respect in this town." Extending his claw, he gripped the edge of the building and hosited himself to the roof, ignoring the angry cries of the police below.

Once he reached the roof, Manny was surprised to see Jake already there, still cloaked for anonymity.

"Manny," Jake said, stepping forward to greet his friend, "it's good to see you agai-" However, before he could get two steps closer, Manny launched his fist and hit him square in the stomach, dropping him onto the cold hard concrete.

Using his hood to conceal his face from the oncoming news copters, Jake rolled into a crouched postition. "Okay, we so don't have time for this." Rushing towards Manny, he saw the faint look of realization on his face just as he tackled him. Expecting to feel the rough sting of cement when he landed, Manny gasped with surprise when he instead fell upon something marginally softer.

"Yo, is… is this…grass?" Manny asked, absent mindedly throwing Jake off of him so that he could examine the landscape. Positive he was no longer in Miracle City, Manny turned on Jake, growling and flashing his claws. "Alright, spill, who are you? What do you want with me? …and where'd you get the sweet cloak?"

"Dude, really?"

"El Tigre never jokes about the sweetness of cloaks!"

Pulling his hood off, Jake basked in the freshness of the bay area air and stared Manny down, enjoying rare moment of quiet that his revelation had brought him.

"But you're…"

"Nope."

"So the other's aren't…"

"Not even a little."

"So is Vlad still…"

"Oh-ho, big time."

"… Mi amigo!" Manny screamed, running to hug Jake, "You're alive! And you can teleport now…plus you have a sweet-ass cloak! _Very _nice…but, uh, a little confusing, so how about a little context here?"

"Put in Tigre terms? Vlad's gone nuts, Randy, Danny, and I are gonna stop him, a kid gave us magic berries so we can teleport, you and some other dudes are gonna help us, and it's either win of die at this point. Now come on, we need to get to Orchid Bay City."

"Ahh," Manny said, now out his El Tigre uniform and following Jake down the steep Californian hills, "calling in your favor from la Cebra, eh? Man, it really **_has_** gotten bad out there."

"You know she hates it when you call her that," Jake said, once again fading into the shadows of the alley, "and what's worse, she always blames me."

"Well, maybe for the price of a certain dragon's cloak, I'll be willing to keep my mouth shut."

Jake sighed and rolled his eyes, nearly stepping into traffic in the process. "Gahh, I bet Randy's not dealing with anything like this."

* * *

"I am not prepared to deal with things like this!" Randy screamed as he, Theresa, and the twins ran through the forest of Gravity Falls followed by the sound of snapping jaws and creaking pistons. He'd never liked to imagine that the fate of the world would rest in his hands, but as soon as he got Dipper's notes on Bill Cipher he realized that that was exactly what was happening.

"So wait," Theresa questioned as they ran around the moss covered tress, "you're telling us that the reason Vlad's so honkin strong right now is because he made a deal with…a talking magical triangle?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up."

"And that's not super weird to anyone else but me?"

"Theresa," Randy said, ducking a tree branch, "we go to a school that was built on top of an eight-hundred year old sorcerer who sometimes turns our friends into monsters, my ninja teacher is a book who for some reason insists on speaking in riddles, and we just teleported by eating magical fruit. Besides, if you keep hanging out with Jake and Danny long enough you'll get to hear _way_ dumber things… like; I'm talking _Box Ghost_ dumb things."

Catching up to the two teens, Dipper and Mabel pulled them into a grove of trees, pausing to catch their breath. "Guys, now is not the time to figure out which of our lives are more freak-tastic, because if you haven't noticed we're being chased by giant. _metal_. _wolves_."

"Right, sorry. So anything else you can tell us about this Cipher thing before we run off to try to kick its butt?"

"Seriously? The best advice I have for you is to _avoid him at all costs._" Dipper said as he opened his journal to a page he had bookmarked in red. "But since you guys seem to have a habit of gambling with your lives… I'd say your best bet is to try to out-think him…so yeah good luck with _that_."

Listening for the sound of grass being trampled by metal paws, the four of them let out a sigh of relief as the sounds began fading from behind them, indicating that the automatons had either found a new target or just gotten bored.

As she peeked around the tree, Mabel confirmed that the dogs had indeed left the kids alone. "Coast is clear folks, you and your girlfriend can take off now, we got it from here."

"She's not my girlfriend!" "I'm not his girlfriend!"

"Riiiggghhht, and I'm not adorable in this sweater."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just get back to the shack," Randy said, noticing the drizzle beginning to fall, "Your uncle's probably worried sick about you guys. Plus, Theresa and I need to check in with Danny and I _doubt _these woods are any safer in the rain."

"Sure," Dipper muttered as they faded from view, "because obviously we're the ones you should be concerned about at this point."


	11. Assemble

"You're supposed to be dead," was the first thing Juniper Lee said when she saw Manny Rivera and Jake Long standing at her front door, so even though it was perfectly understandable to punch Jake in the face, she still felt bad about it. As if that weren't enough, Jake hadn't just popped in for a visit, be he'd decided to call in the debt she owed him from last summer, and before she even had a chance to object he'd grabbed her and whisked her away to Amity Park with Manny laughing beside them.

With her head still racing from the experience, June followed Jake into the Fenton's lab, and with the sheer volume of people gathered there around Randy and Theresa, she felt that they had probably just walked into something important. "So wait, not only do we have to worry about Vlad's amped up ghost powers," Danny said, pacing the room while they joined the others around him, "but we're also dealing with a deranged magical triangle with a habit of making deals with criminally obsessed fruit-loops?"

"Pretty much," Randy replied, watching as Jake slid down the stairs to join the others in the Fenton's lab, "and according to Dipper, it's only gonna get worse."

"Freaking great." Around the room, Danny took in each of his friend's reactions to the news, and even though Jake said June had volunteered for this, he could tell she was beginning to regret that decision. "Stupid Jake and his stupid debt," she muttered under her breath as she and Manny leaned against the machines lining the room.

"But is that not what war is about?" Dexter asked, finally shattering the silence that had overtaken the lab. "I mean, Vlad is no fool, so do you seriously believe that he is taking days to do what he could do in hours because he wants us to surrender? No, what he wants is for someone to fight back, it is a subconscious need he has to dominate others and therefore validate himself."

"Dex is right," Jimmy cut in, looking at Randy, Jake and Danny "remember when he thought he was getting rid of you three? He didn't just blast you and be done with it, he humiliated you on global television, then pushed you aside like yesterday's garbage."

"Really feeling the love here, Jim," Jake said, his head hung low, "but is there a point to this aside from hurting us emotionally?"

"Right, sorry. Anyway, our point is that Vlad _likes_ the fight. That's why he put up with Danny for so long, and we think that's why he didn't actually blow you guys to pieces. So, from that, we've concluded that he's trying to bait the others into attacking him. He goes into a city, makes a bunch of noise and then jumps on the first thing that comes at him, the guy's basically _fishing_ for you."

"And this helps us, how?"

"If he's fishing…" June said, speaking up for the first time since Jake pulled her away from California, "then what happens when he gets a few sharks on the line?"

Grinning, Dexter's eyes shone with the insanity of a mad scientist. "Ah, Juniper," he said, removing his glasses and staring at her intently, "it's almost as if you can read my mind."

"Ugh," Randy said, throwing his arms up in exasperation, "enough with the metaphors and the secret looks! Do you shoobs have a plan from stopping Vlad or not?"

Tentatively, the two geniuses in the room looked at each other before bringing out eight watch-like devices. "These are new wrist-coms we've devised for you to use in the field; they'll work through ghost interference and thanks to most forms of 'magic' as well. We've already taken the liberty of installing the upgraded system into Valerie's suit since she's on recon duty right now."

"Nice," Jake said, slipping the communicator onto his wrist, "so what next?"

"Next, we're splitting up into three groups which will be Core Control, Stealth and Battlefront." Jimmy began, pulling up a map of an abandoned field, "Dexter, the Fentons, Sam, Tucker, and myself will be Core Control, we'll be using the communicators to monitor energy levels and make sure nothing unexpected happens."

"Next, Dani, Haley, Theresa, Manny, and Juniper will be the stealth team. There's a button on the side of your wrist-coms that'll activate a thin layer of reflective armor, making you pretty much invisible…unless you do something stupid."

Immediately, all eyes fell on Manny. "Oh sure, you rob one little bank seven times and all of sudden you're unstable."

"Anyway," Dexter said, getting back to the main point, "that leaves you three; Randy, Jake, and Danny. _Your _job is to make Vlad mad. Throw him off his game enough that he stops thinking things through, if you guys can do that, then we should be able to shut him down without getting any more major cities destroyed. Do you think could handle that?"

"Dude, have you not met us?" Danny asked, making a triangle with his finger that connected him with Randy and Jake. "Heck you give us a camera and ten minutes, we can have that fruit-loop absolutely _furious_ by the time he comes to waste us."

"Oh-ho this is gonna be so honkin' bruce!"

"Well, y'know, assuming this won't totally blow up in our faces… again."

"Dude, I'm in a basement lab surrounded by legit super-heroes in a war meeting about trying to shut down a psychopathic ghost, you can't tell me _that's_ not the cheese."

"Wow, you really are one of those 'glass half full' kind of guys, aren't you Cunningham?"

"Yes, yes, we can discuss Randy's disturbingly optimistic views on impending doom later," Dexter called, snapping his fingers as he ascended the stairs, "right now, you have genius to set in motion."

"You heard the man, we've got a few sharks to bait."


	12. Rampage

Standing out in the clearing probably wasn't the smartest thing they'd ever done, but then again Danny, Jake and Randy's lives seemed to be evolving into a constant stream of poor decision making, so what was one more dumb thing.

"Are you sure he'll show up?" Jake said, the markings on his arm becoming agitated as if they hated this plan as much as he did.

"Oh he'll show all right," Danny confirmed, "if there's one thing that I'm good at, it's antagonizing the people who already want to destroy me."

Sure enough, the wind began picking up just as Jimmy's voice came over the communicators. "Hope you guys are ready for this, because Plasmius is on his…wait…" Quiet swept the battlefield as panic overtook his voice. "There's been a massive spike in electrical energy over you guys, you need to move… NOW!"

Scattering, Jake and the others barely cleared out of the way before a massive lightning strike devastated the ground, leaving nothing but a smoking crater where they had just been standing.

"Jimmy," Randy yelled, scanning the sky for any sign of storm clouds, "what the juice was that!"

"That my dear boy," a voice said from the smoking crater, "was a warning shot." Electricity crackled around Vlad Plasmius as he pulled himself from the fresh indent he'd created in the field, superheating the air around him. "The warning being that I'm about to reduce this insipid trio of yours to ashes once and force all."

"Ohhh," Danny said, feigning fright, "someone's _extra_ angry today, isn't he?"

Scowling, Vlad fired a bolt of ectoplasm at the trees behind Danny, shattering the wood and sending the mighty pines crumbling to the ground. "My dear boy, I passed angry several weeks ago with you, at this point it'd be more accurate to say that I am absolutely **_livid_**."

Dodging another shot of energy, Danny, Jake, and Randy took off running, taunting Plasmius to make him lose his focus on the others hidden in the woods. "You know Vlad, Danny always _said_ you were a fruit-loop, but now," Jake teased, ducking under a blast of electricity that made his hair stand on edge, "I guess you've been upgraded to magic fruit-loop! Good for you!" Sliding between the trees where June and Haley were hidden, Jake yelped and rolled away from a barrage of ectoplasmic energy that had been hurled towards him.

"Brave words from such a little gecko," Vlad said, switching his attention from Jake to Randy, "such a shame that your grandfather isn't around to hear them. Hmm, what exactly happened to him again? Oh right…_I _did."

Fire bubbled in Jake and Haley's throats, and if it weren't for June holding them both back, they probably would have fallen for Vlad's taunts immediately. "Later guys," she said, her hands cupped over their mouths, "stall now, _toast_ later."

Meanwhile, Randy had taken up Jake's place as the target for Vlad's attacks and without the ninja suit, he probably would have been fried by the second bolt of lightning that whizzed past his ear, singeing the side of his mask.

"Uh…Danny," he yelled, hoping from tree branch to tree branch to avoid the volley of attacks being thrown in his direction, "what _exactly_ did you say to get him here?"

"Yeah… so I _may_ have had Dexter upload a video of me and Dani laughing at his evil failures and calling him a lonely fruit-loop."

Rolling away from collapsing branches, Randy deflected a stray ghost ray off of his sword as Plamius turned his eye-beams towards Danny. "Anything else, maybe? Y'know, like something that'd make him throw lighting at us?!"

Shielding himself from the attack, Danny dived away from Plasmius and leveled a ghost ray at the back of Plamsus' feet, knocking him off balance. "Nope, that was pretty much the gist of it."

"Wait," Jake yelled, shooting from between the trees and tossing Randy the other side of the anti-ghost net, "you didn't mention the cat did you?"

"Dude, please tell me you didn't mention the cat?"

Pinning Vlad to the largest tree with the net, Jake, Danny and Randy, stood triumphantly until his eyes flashed the same shade of mystic gold they had four days ago. "Y'know," Danny said, backing away from the now glowing Vlad Plasmius, "we may have mentioned the cat and that _may_ have been a mistake."

"Hey, guys…"

"Dex, please tell me you have good news about this situation?"

"Yeah…no. Remember how earlier you needed to move to avoid being blown to pieces by Plasmius' absurdly abrupt lightening?"

"Yeah…"

Tucker's voice came over the coms, as panicked and loud as if he were watching a nuclear reactor go critical. "Dude, bail. All of you, go! Get back before-."

A shockwave of energy incinerated the net and flung the three of them back, rolling them across the ground before slamming them into the trees their friends had been using for cover moments before.

"Oww."

"You still think this is some kind of game, don't you Daniel?" Vlad roared, throwing off more electricity as his skin began cracking. "You and your silly little friends running around playing hero all the time, thinking you're always in the right, trying your hardest not to let anyone down but at the same time watching you own lives pass you by." Glaring at Danny, he bared his fangs and hissed, rushing over to where he'd fallen and kicking him while he was down. "Look at you. How's your little Goth friend doing, boy? Remember how distraught she was when you gave it all up, how boring she found you…almost as if she's only with you so that you can entertain her like the little circus-badger you are."

"And you," he said, grabbing Jake by the collar of his jacket, "what of _your _idiot friends, hmm? You think they'll mourn you as a man… or an animal? Well, that's not really fair is it, you think your friends like you for who you are, after all, even your girlfriend has grown to see past the beast, you've felt on top of the world. But your family has secrets, Jacob. You think being a dragon makes you a monster, but I've seen things through the eye of Cipher, I know things about your family that'd make you beg for _my_ forgiveness."

"Then there's you," Vlad whispered, looking at Randy and snatching off his mask, "you amuse me Randall, and I'll tell you why, heaven knows you could bother to learn a thing or two. You think that the Sorcerer and that buffoon McFist are your biggest concerns, but let me tell you this; you have just begun to struggle. You see, I could free the Sorcerer, I could bring down that affront to learning you call a school right on top of him and watch as he crushes everything you love; your friends, your parents, and nothing you cherish would be safe. But I won't, because being with these two, you realize just how insignificant you actually are to the world. You're the most replaceable, Randy, and I simply adore watching that eat away at you each time you put on this mask."

Standing over the collapsed forms of the trio, Vlad felt completely triumphant, he'd stomped on their spirits and soon he would follow through with crushing their bodies as well. "What now boys, no quips? No witty banter or awful puns to throw out? No more 'Mr. Fruit-loop'?!"

"Hey, fruit-loop!" Caught off guard, Vlad turned just as a blast of ectoplasmic energy sent him flying into the forest. "You talk too much."

"Wha- oh, this is rich," he laughed, brushing foliage off of him as he hovered above the clearing, "you've brought a little b-team for me to crush, how kind of you."

Looking them over, Vlad took stock of the gathered heroes, the supposed last defense against his wrath; A half-ghost, his clone, _two_ American dragons in training, a ninja, a ninja-_wannabe_, a boy with a magic belt-buckle, and a girl who reeked of pure magic.

_…literally child's play._

"Before I lay waste to you all," he said, his hands crackling with a destructive mix of magic and ghostly energy, "are there any last words."

"Sure do, Captain Crazy, our friends back home have hooked up a camera feed live streaming this to every screen in the world, so this butt-kicking's going global."

"I meant anything that I should actually _care_ about, Jacob?"

"Oh, well there's this," Jake said, showing off the dragon markings that were anxiously dancing around his arm, "Gramps says hello. Dragon up!"


End file.
